Sunrise on the east coast of Barbados. I have to get up fairly to get to this spot but it’s always worth the effort.
Specific Feedback Requested
This was a cropping challenge for me. What to keep? What to exclude?
I’m interested to see what crops you would make.
Also open to other comments.
Technical Details
1/40sec f/16 ISO100 I tried using the thumb blocking out the sun technique to control the flare, but it didn’t make that much difference with this shot. I shot bracketed and used 2 images. One for the main scene and another to bring back details in the highlights with the sun. I used luminosity masks to brush in the details from the exposure that was made for the sky.
I like the tighter crop. The light colored rocks in the foreground in the original crop detract from the rest of the image in my view. Nice framing with the branch in the ULC and the clouds in the URC. And lovely light cast in the mid to foreground in the middle.
Hello Andre, I too, like the tighter crop. Nice lighting and nice job with the sun not being noticeably blown out. There’s something about the lighting, kinda old world, renaissance feel to it that is quite nice.
Beautiful coastal image sunrise. I’ll default to agree with the tighter crop, however the light on the foreground vegetation is pretty special and is cut off. Not sure how far you are willing to take things, but you might CA-clone that rock away in the LLC. That’s the only thing from preventing the uncropped from being my preferred verstion. Oh, and maybe the far LRC too.
As presented, another crop option would be to keep going more towards panoramic by just getting rid of, and cropping the top of the highlighted bush and piece of road(?). Then a similar shave off the top for the more narrow presentation. The trees on both left and right do well to frame the scene.
@David_Bostock Thanks for the comments. Yes the light has a special characteristic to it, especially around this time of year. There is a lot of moisture in the air from the humidity and the sea spray. We also get some dust from the Sahara. Combined they give us some great soft gradient washes of colour in the sky. I remember when I went to Albuquerque once I shocked for the first few days how different the light was. @Lon_Overacker Thanks for the comments. I’ll try using the content aware clone on those rocks.
What a beautiful scene, and very well executed retaining detail throughout. Good call on blending in the sun using the luminosity masks. I have to be the dissenting voice. I actually like the original crop with the rock. It does not attract my eye to the point of distraction and in fact for me adds weight to the left side to counter the darker trees on the right side. The highlighting on those rocks and the the foreground foliage is just to sweet to crop away.
Thanks for the feedback Youssef. It’s always great to hear an alternative view. I’m wondering what effect the viewing size has on whether to go with a tighter crop or not. I think that with a smaller viewing size you have to really focus in on your main subject because a lot of the nuanced details can get lost and become more of a distraction. Whereas, with a bigger viewing size the details can help to make the scene more immersive, and the rocks would play a less significant role in the overall scene.
Hey Andre! Love the shot. What a view! The only think I have to suggest (and it’s probably been mentioned) is to crop out the tree limb in the upper left. It’s a bit distracting to the overall scene. The guideline I try to go by is to ask what distracts my eye in the image and then remove that part. Love the colors!
Andre, I’m going rogue and preferring the original crop. The rocks on the lower corners don’t bother me nor does the branch along the left side. I think you have captured such wonderful light in this lovely scene that I don’t want to see any of it disappear.
